Gettingsburg, the capital of the Norton Kingdom.

The next successor to the throne, Prince Gahaz, was in the middle of conducting a secret ritual with his mother, Queen Montana, and a few priests.

“In order to have an immortal body, you must understand and awaken the secret, Gahaz. Nakron, the Lich King who reigned here a long time ago, was able to do just that,” Montana instructed.

“I want to become a G.o.d! The Lich King is less than that!” Gahaz cried out.

“It’s impossible to sit on a Divine Throne from the beginning. First of all, you have to escape the bondage of being a human and reign over others,” she continued.

The Norton Royal Family had long been researching Liches.

Their efforts had finally paid off, as they were now able to use some of the Lich’s evil magic.

“I will kill all those who dare compete with me for a Divine Throne seat! Even if the Hero King comes, I won’t be scared!” Gahaz said with increasing fervor.

“Right, right. I wish for you to do whatever you set out to do. Our secret process can’t be completed without desire,” she continued.

The black sphere floating above the magic circle began to grow in size.

Watching this, Queen Montana ordered the black-robed priests to bring out a naked brunette-haired virgin.

“Heup! Heup!”

The brown-haired maiden had her arms tied around her back with chains and her mouth was stuffed with cloth.

As she was carried over to the magic circle, evil energy emanated from her black sphere and settled down closer to the floor.

“Today’s offering looks a little weak,” Gahaz murmured with dissatisfaction.

“It’s not easy to get virgins these days. Still, she’s fresh,” Montana replied.

The Norton Royal Family’s secret ritual required virgin’s blood.

They would gain the power of evil magic by offering sacrifices.

The purpose of this secret ritual was to cast an evil magic curse on Woohyuk, who was popularly known as the Hero King.

“She’s the last of the thirty virgins that we’ve sacrificed over the past 30 days, so I guess she’ll do. The Hero King will definitely die, right?” he asked.

“Of course. No one has ever survived this curse,” the Queen replied with confidence.

In the Norton Royal Family, Woohyuk was a constant thorn in their side.

With him out of the picture, they’d be able to regain control of the Norton Kingdom and attack the epic dungeon.

Now that everything was ready, all that was left was to watch the results.

While Queen Montana and Prince Gahaz were basking in their lofty expectations, a white cat came through the window into the interior of the stone chamber.

“Meow~~”

It gave out a long cry that was peculiar to cats.

Queen Montana frowned and glanced towards one of her black-robed priests.

Seeing her glaring at him, the priest went over to the white cat…

SAh!

Suddenly, the white cat was engulfed in black mana before taking form. It was Woohyuk.

Surprised, Queen Montana stuttered as she took a few steps back, “H-H-Hero King…!”

“I knew I’d have to take care of you guys at some point. Thanks for reminding me,” he responded casually. 

He knew early on that the Norton Royal Family had been carrying on forbidden research.

However, there was always better use for his time, so he had left them alone.

This was a good opportunity to tie up his loose ends.

‘It’s not a bad tactic to transform into a cat and sneak in.’

Using Song Anna’s ability, it was possible for him to transform into an animal or plant for a certain period of time.

If one succ.u.mbed to a fatal attack, one would return to his/her original state.

Woohyuk organized his thoughts and then quickly subdued the priests who had surrounded him.

Bam-Bam-Bam-Bam!

The gap in strength was so overwhelming that the scene devolved into a one-sided a.s.sault.

There was no one in the Norton Kingdom that could stop this DemiG.o.d bully.

Subsequently, when he summoned Leifina and Song Anna, Queen Montana hastily tried to complete the ritual.

Seu-Reung!

She pulled out a dagger and tried to stab the heart of her offering, the brown-haired virgin.

However, her attempt failed. Leifina had made her move.

Pu-Wook!

Argent, the Oath of Loyalty sword, protruded out of Montana’s back.

Seeing this, Prince Gahaz stepped toward the entrance door to quickly escape.

Hu-DDak.

He was only 16 years old, so his movements were quite agile.

However, at the entrance, Undine, the Water Spirit, was already waiting for him.

“Give up. You won’t be able to escape,” Undine said with an ethereal voice.

Prince Gahaz’s ankles were soon frozen over with ice as Undine used her freezing magic spell.

The immobile Gahaz started raving like mad, screaming at Woohyuk with an angry expression.

“You a.s.shole! Do you know who I am! You dare to do this to a prince!” he snarled.

“I know who you are. You’re just a stray dog that knows nothing about the world,” Woohyuk calmly replied.

No matter how young he was, there was nothing good that could come about by keeping Gahaz alive.

Woohyuk rescued the brown-haired girl from the magic circle and then put Prince Gahaz in the very same spot.

“No! I can’t be sacrificed!”

“Karma’s a b.i.t.c.h, silly little boy.”

Up to now, countless innocent virgins were sacrificed for Gahaz’s selfish motives.

After a while, Prince Gahaz was covered with evil energy that emanated out of the black sphere…

“That’s disgusting,” Leifina said from Woohyuk’s side.

Gahaz’s body took a mummy-like shape as the swirling evil energy revolved about his body.

“It’s not over yet. Most of the royal family is involved in these rituals,” Woohyuk stated.

“Are you going to kill them all tonight?” Leifina asked.

“Sure. Might as well.”

He had to finish the purge before dawn to save himself some trouble.

If he quickly took control of the capital, Gettingsburg, the rest of the surrounding cities and their military could be captured without difficulty.

The Norton Kingdom’s Royal Armed Forces, which had left to prevent the incoming undead troops, could also be circ.u.mvented, lowering the chance of any loss on his side.

As Woohyuk headed to the entrance, Leifina and Song Anna silently followed.

When the Norton Royal Family was ma.s.sacred, most of the local lords surrendered without a fight.

Their opponent was the Hero King. Not many would be foolish enough to stand against such a lofty individual.

Hence, when peace came back to the Norton Kingdom, Woohyuk had the undead army return to the Death Castle Dreadlore. He would have allowed the undead to stay if the land was relatively empty, but he couldn’t have them out in the open in such a congested Kingdom.

“Now that monarch rule has become impossible, I should appoint a governor to rule,” Woohyuk muttered.

“Who are you going to appoint as governor of the Norton Kingdom, Lord?” Leifina asked.

“I’m thinking of a.s.signing Sieg,” Woohyuk said after some thought.

The Norton Kingdom was a tremendously important area because an epic dungeon was located within its boundaries.

However, considering public sentiment, he couldn’t just appoint anyone as governor.

If Woohyuk appointed Dragon Slayer Sieg, it seemed that he’d avoid any meaningful pushback from the local lords or people.

After organizing his thoughts, Woohyuk immediately summoned Sieg to his side.

“From now on, you will rule the Norton Kingdom.”

“Huh? Then my wife and son…” Sieg stuttered, surprised by the sudden appointment.

“Bring everyone. As previously promised, I am observing your right to defend your family.”

Brynhildr, Tinia, and Sylvia were Sieg’s most precious people.

Hearing that his most precious people wouldn’t be forced into any future wars, Sieg was almost in tears.

“Thank you! Thank you very much! Since the world has devolved into so much chaos, I was worried about the safety of my wife and child…”

“In return, make sure to keep the epic dungeon safe from any foreign forces. Death Knight Huperion will be a.s.sisting you as well,” Woohyuk replied.

Ensuring the safety of the epic dungeon was worth reducing his useable manpower.

After leaving Sieg, Woohyuk went to go see the epic dungeon.

He was already in the area, so he thought he’d go take a look.

As he heard from his reports, the size and majesty of the epic dungeon were tremendous.

“It’s really grand. It is not as tall as the Twilight Tower, but it’s still very large in scale,” Leifina said with surprise.

“This is probably the highest-grade ruins on the Eeth Continent,” Woohyuk commented in return.

Woohyuk looked up at the huge pyramid floating high in the sky.

Ordinary people wouldn’t even be able to enter inside.

According to rumors, no one who had entered an epic dungeon ever returned.

“The difficulty level is probably terribly high. If we go in there, will we have to play a survival game again?” Leifina asked.

“I think that’s very likely. Each of the currently vacant Divine Throne seats can only be occupied by one person,” Woohyuk answered.

Therefore, even though Woohyuk secured two epic dungeons, he was delaying entry because of this reason.

He thought that it wouldn’t be too late to deeply consider who should sit atop the empty seats rather than attacking the dungeons recklessly.

As the two were preparing to return, Woohyuk heard Nakron’s voice.

[My disciple, the time has finally come.]

“What does that mean?”

[The war of the chosen heroes. There are other higher spirits besides me in the new Divine Throne system, and they each have a disciple. They’ve chosen those who they feel possess the highest potential for growth.]

According to Nakron, the total number of higher spirits who were partic.i.p.ating in this Game of Divine Thrones were three, including Nakron himself.

Therefore, there were three disciples, one for each higher spirit. Furthermore, the higher spirits were in compet.i.tion against each other.

“Can you give me information about the other disciples?”

[Sorry, but that’s beyond my ability. However, they have great abilities, so sooner or later, you will meet them on the battlefield.]

“Hmm…”

Woohyuk had a concerned expression on his face.

At this moment Alice, the Queen of Thorns Queen, Logan, and Ivanov were all dead.

The only contentious enemy left was Marcus, the Lightlord.

‘Then who is the other one?’

No matter how many times he sifted through his past memories, no face or name came to mind.

[Oh, by the way, the other guys seemed to have chosen their disciples only recently. So, keep an eye out on those who are active or strong right now.]

“… Alright. I’ll look it up,” Woohyuk replied.

The main characters in the West maintained a friendly relations.h.i.+p with him, so it was easy to find out if there were any up-and-comers or strong individuals rising in the ranks.

Once Woohyuk returned to Inotia, he immediately video called with his allies, one by one.

[Higher Spirit? I haven’t even seen one in my dreams. I swear, by the honor of the Beastman Warrior.]

… Ganiev, leader of the Beastmen Alliance, didn’t have a clue.

He wasn’t one to lie, nor did he have exceptionally strong ability.

Soon, after connecting with Ophelia…

[I don’t even know what a higher spirit is. If it’s just a spirit, they always communicate with us.]

Elven Queen Ophelia was somewhat naive, so if she lied, it could easily be spotted.

After many sessions, he connected with Eleanora, who appeared on the screen…

“Eleanora, I’m sorry about what happened to your father. I have been busy, so I only just heard the news,” Woohyuk said with a solemn voice.

Prior to asking her for what he wanted, Woohyuk comforted her like an older brother.

Eleanora nodded her head with a crestfallen expression.

[It’s fine. These are very confusing times. No one knows when and where someone will die.]

“Have you faced any problems after becoming Empress? If you have, tell me and I’ll try to help.”

[You don’t have to worry about me. Since father pa.s.sed away, the seven paladins have been guarding me by my side.]

Their failure in safely escorting the previous emperor was a great shame for the seven paladins.

In order not to repeat the same mistakes, they currently put Eleanora’s safety as a top priority and stuck to her day and night.

Eleanora, understanding her own position, was always careful about her actions.

“Have any higher spirits suddenly appeared? Higher spirits talking about Divine Thrones or this and that…”

[… Oh, how did you know that? I don’t think Hwarin would have told you first.]

Hwarin, the legendary female swordsman of the Lioness Kingdom. She had reached the pinnacle of swordsmans.h.i.+p.

It was Hwarin, the higher spirit, who chose Eleanora as her disciple.

Hearing Eleanora’s honest words, Woohyuk couldn’t help but frown.

Due to his recent dealings and decisions, his political marriage partner had now become a potential compet.i.tor.